2019 Nationals: Senior Pairs Short Program

Kayne and O’Shea Lead U.S. Pairs
in Short Program

by Liz Leamy

(28 January 2019) Tarah Kayne & Daniel O’Shea, the 2016 U.S. Champions and 2018
Four Continents Champions, catapulted into first place in the pairs short
showdown at the 2019 U.S. Championships, earning a 71.83 for their
compelling rendition of
‘That’s It’ by Sofi Tucker.

Kayne & O’Shea opened up with a dramatic back outside death
spiral and followed up with a big split triple twist, triple Salchow,
throw triple loop and a level four lift and combination spin, for
which they racked up Grade of Execution points that ranged from plus
twos to plus fours.

Describing their performance Kayne said, “So many times throughout my career I didn't think I would
get back to this place because I keep getting injured and it just
seemed like I couldn't catch a break. So it means the world to me to
be sitting here talking about how this went well.”

O’Shea added, “I think we're different in a lot of ways and we're
the same in a lot of ways. We're growing and we're building on the
strengths that we already have. I feel that something that is great
about where we are at right now is the ability to work with ice
dance coaches on a daily basis and to have ourselves pushed in that
way has been wonderful. It's a wonderful program. We are happy the
short went well.”

Ashley Cain & Timothy LeDuc, the 2018 Four Continents silver
medalists and 2017 U.S. bronze medalists, wound up second on the
leaderboard with a score of 70.47.

This dynamic duo, who train in Euless, Texas with their parents,
Darlene and Peter Cain and Nina Mozer, earned high marks for their
high throw triple Lutz, intricate level-four step sequence and fast
level-four combination pair spin, among other things.

The two skated to ‘Bella Belle’ by the Electric Swing Circus.

“It was definitely very rewarding," said Cain. "When we were out there, we
just took it one element at a time and we checked off the boxes. Six
weeks ago, we didn’t think we would be standing here. Coming into
this competition we didn’t really know what would happen; we didn’t
know how we would feel on that day; we didn’t know how I would react
to the lights. So the fact that we put out a good performance like
that just shows that we are strong competitors and that we trusted
our training. I think the biggest part is that he was strong for me
in all of this. I was able to count on him being there for me and he
was able to count on me putting out my best effort today.”

Describing how the team adjusted to Cain's recent concussion, LeDuc
said, “We have made some slight adjustments [since the
injury] while still preserving our levels. We mainly adjusted our
preparation coming into this. Some of the things that flipped upside
down we took out to alleviate some of the impact on her head.”

Haven Denney & Brandon Frazier, the 2017 U.S. Champions,
claimed third with a 68.32 in this portion of the competition for
their intriguing program to ‘Billie Jean’ by David Cook.

This high-energy team, who train in Fox Valley, Illinois with
Rockne Brubaker and Stefania Barton, knocked out solid side-by-side
triple Salchows, a soaring throw triple loop, a well-extended
level-four lift and a dramatic back outside death spiral, among
other things.

Denney said, “I feel like we did our best today. I haven’t looked at
the protocol sheets yet, but I have a feeling we didn’t get all of
our levels to our potential. But the biggest thing that I think we
are proud of today is our fight and determination with the elements
and carrying a good performance all the way through. I think that is
what we will take away from today.”

Frazier added, “We have kind of had a rocky start to the season
and dealt with a big injury in the middle, so there’s a lot of
baggage coming in to start this competition. We have really prepared
and put a lot of energy and work into it. It is probably not the
perfect short we have ever run, but it is definitely something to be
proud of to regain some momentum. We came here and got the job done
today and that is all that matters.”

The 2018 U.S. bronze medalists, Deanna Stellato &
Nathan Bartholomay, ended the short program segment in fourth
place.

On their performance in the short Stellato said, “It felt like a complete program. I'm not really sure
what happened. The throw felt good in the air, but everything else
felt really solid and really good. I could tell we were dead on in
our spins because the crowd started cheering so loud I could barely
hear him call anymore so we must be right on. I could get off the
ice pleased with what I did. I'm always going to be hard on myself
because I want to be technically perfect as well, but it certainly
felt choreographically proficient, in terms of the package we were
able to deliver.”

Bartholomay described their performance saying, “Not our best but we really felt good going out
there. The crowd was great. We put down a solid performance,
complete package and we're excited to come out for the free skate.”

Reigning U.S. Champions Alexa Scimeca Knierim & Chris
Knierim struggled in the Short Program and ended the
segment in sixth place.